1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to personal audio devices such as wireless telephones that include adaptive noise cancellation (ANC), and more specifically, to a filter architecture for implementing ANC in a personal audio device.
2. Background of the Invention
Wireless telephones, such as mobile/cellular telephones, cordless telephones, and other consumer audio devices, such as mp3 players, are in widespread use. Performance of such devices with respect to intelligibility can be improved by providing noise canceling using a microphone to measure ambient acoustic events and then using signal processing to insert an anti-noise signal into the output of the device to cancel the ambient acoustic events.
The acoustic environment around personal audio devices such as wireless telephones provides a challenge for the implementation of ANC. In particular, conditions such as nearby voice activity, wind, mechanical noise on the device housing or unstable operation of the ANC system typically requires reset of the adaptive filter that generates the noise-canceling (anti-noise) signal. Since resetting the adaptive results in no noise canceling until the adaptive filter re-adapts, any time an event occurs that disrupts the operation of the ANC system, cancellation of ambient noise is disrupted, as well.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a personal audio device, including a wireless telephone, that provides noise cancellation that provides adequate performance under dynamically changing operating conditions. It would further be desirable to provide a mechanism for resetting an ANC system that does not cause the total loss of noise canceling while the ANC system re-adapts.